George Robert Stone, nicknamed Silent George, (September 3, 1876 – January 3, 1945) was a

left fielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

(1903) and

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

(1905–10). Stone batted and threw

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. He was the 1906 American League batting champion.

Early life

Stone was born in Lost Nation,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

,"George Stone," Society for American Baseball Research website
/ref> to George and Hannah Stone and was Jewish. Prior to playing baseball, he had a career in banking in Nebraska. A 1906 article on him noted that his taste ran to reading, and his hobby was violin playing.

Baseball career

He left his career in banking in 1901 at the age of 24 to join the

Omaha Omahogs Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

of the Western League. In 1902 he played for the Omahogs and the

Peoria Distillers The Peoria Distillers were a minor league baseball team that existed on-and-off from 1894 to 1917. They played in the Western Association from 1894 to 1896; the Central League (baseball), Central League in 1900, 1904 and 1917; the Western League (1 ...

and led the league with 198 hits, and the next year he again played for the Omahogs. He made his major league debut in 1903 at the age of 26 with the

Boston Americans The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. He played most of 1903 for the Milwaukee Creams of the Western League. In 1903 with the Creams he was third in the Western League in

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s (4). In 1904 with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

he led the

American Association American Association may refer to: Baseball * American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891 * American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997 * American Association of Profe ...

in batting with a .406

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(which remained the league record until the league closed down in 1997), in slugging with a .558 average, and in hits (254), as he was second in the league in

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

s (19). In December 1904 he was traded by the Boston Americans to the

for

Jesse Burkett Jesse Cail Burkett (December 4, 1868 – May 27, 1953), nicknamed "Crab", was an American professional baseball left fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1890 to 1905 for the New York Giants, Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfe ...

and cash. In 1905 he led the American League in hits (187) and

total bases In baseball statistics, total bases is the number of bases a player gains with hits. It is a weighted sum with values of 1 for a single, 2 for a double, 3 for a triple and 4 for a home run. For example, three singles is three total bases, while ...

(259), and was second in home runs (7). In 1906, he batted .358 and won the American League batting championship (beating four-time batting champion

Napoleon Lajoie Napoléon "Nap" Lajoie (; September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also known as Larry Lajoie and nicknamed "The Frenchman", was an American professional baseball second baseman and player-manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for t ...

), and also led the league in slugging (.501) and in

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

(.417), as he was second in the league in hits (208; behind Lajoie) and triples (20; behind

Elmer Flick Elmer Harrison Flick (January 11, 1876 – January 9, 1971) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball from 1898 to 1910 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Athletics, and Cleveland Bronchos/Na ...

), and third in home runs (6). In 1907 he batted .320. In 1907 he was second in the AL in on-base percentage (.387) and hits (191; behind

Ty Cobb Tyrus Raymond Cobb (December 18, 1886 – July 17, 1961), nicknamed "the Georgia Peach", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He was born in rural Narrows, Georgia. Cobb spent 22 seasons with the Detroit Tigers, the las ...

), and third in the league in batting after hitting .320 (behind Cobb and

Sam Crawford Samuel Earl Crawford (April 18, 1880 – June 15, 1968), nicknamed "Wahoo Sam", was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Crawford batted and threw left-handed, stood tall and weighed . Born in Wahoo, Nebraska, he had a s ...

). In 1908, he was third in the American League in home runs (5). He played his last game in 1910. In a seven-season major league career, Stone posted a .301

(984-for-3271) with 23 home runs and 268

RBIs A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

in 848

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

. He is the only player who won the American League batting title in the years from 1901 through 1928, who was not made a member of the

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

. Stone entered the banking industry in Coleridge, Nebraska, and owned a Western League team in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1916. In 1940, he and his wife Pearl moved to

Clinton, Iowa Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 24,469 as of 2020. Clinton, along with DeWitt (also located in Clinton County), was named in honor of the sixth governor of New York, DeWitt Cl ...

. Stone died of a heart attack in Clinton at the age of 68. The burial was at Coleridge Cemetery, in Coleridge, Nebraska. In 1970 he was inducted into ''

The Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junctio ...

''s Iowa Sports

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

References

External links

George Stone MLB Outfielder
- Baseballbiography.com

* ttp://www.sabr.org/sabr.cfm?a=cms,c,2148,3,158 "An Additional Game-Played Found for George Stone of the St. Louis Browns", SABR Baseball Records Committee Newsletter, 2/13/07 {{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, George 1876 births 1945 deaths American League batting champions Boston Americans players Major League Baseball left fielders Baseball players from Iowa Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players People from Lost Nation, Iowa People from Cedar County, Nebraska St. Louis Browns players Omaha Omahogs players Omaha Indians players Peoria Distillers players Milwaukee Creams players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Portland Beavers players

Early life

Baseball career

See also

References

External links